Chennai CBI court convicts firm, six persons in Rs 2.68 crore bank fraud case

Chennai: A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Chennai has convicted a steel trading firm and six individuals in a 2008 bank fraud case involving a loss of Rs 2.68 crore

The court, on Monday, convicted M/s Jailani Steel Traders along with S. Amurudheen, L. Vijayalakshmi, M. Shanthi, S. Kamatshi, M. Sivakumar, and M. Ravichandran Babu.

Amurudheen was sentenced to two years of rigorous imprisonment, while the five other individuals were sentenced to six months of rigorous imprisonment each.

The court imposed fines totalling Rs 60,000 on the six convicted individuals, while the firm was ordered to pay a separate fine of Rs 20,000.

The case was registered by the CBI on April 21, 2008, following a complaint lodged by United Bank of India.

According to the prosecution, the firm and other accused persons had entered into a criminal conspiracy and fraudulently obtained various credit facilities from the bank. The accused allegedly used false and fabricated documents to secure the facilities, diverted or misappropriated the funds, and caused a wrongful loss of Rs 2.68 crore to the bank.

The prosecution maintained that the accused had acted together to obtain and misuse sanctioned funds after examination of the financial transactions and documents connected with the credit facilities during the investigation.

After completing the probe, the CBI filed its charge sheet on June 23, 2009, against the firm and 13 individuals.

The trial continued for several years before the court delivered its verdict against seven of the accused.

Proceedings against four other accused -- Jailani Beevi, A. Srinivasan, N. Manoharan, and S.G. Sekar -- were abated after they died during the pendency of the trial.

The court acquitted S.R. Gnanasekar, who had served as branch manager of United Bank of India, as well as private individual M. Chakravarthy. P.B. Sampath Kumar, a panel advocate for the bank who had also been arrayed as an accused, was discharged from the case.

The verdict brings the long-running prosecution to a close.

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